PERS board adopts ADEC funding policy, approves 18.4% contribution rate and $720 million Pathway commitment

The Public Employees Retirement System of Mississippi Board of Trustees voted at its February meeting to adopt a new funding policy that uses the Actuarially Determined Contribution (ADEC), gave initial approval to Regulation 60 to set contribution rates at 18.4% effective July 1, and approved a $720,000,000 private-equity commitment to Pathway Capital Management.

The funding-policy change and the contribution-rate adjustment were presented by Mister Benson, Administrative Committee chair, who moved adoption of the revised funding policy to align the system with the ADEC approach. The board then moved to approve initial adoption of Regulation 60, which the committee said conforms the current policy to a statutory increase producing an 18.4% contribution rate beginning July 1.

The board heard investment projections from Doctor McCoy, Investment Committee chair, who summarized the portfolio outlook and said, "the 10 year geometric return for PERS is gonna be 7.3%." Using the consultants' assumptions, the investment report projected a 53% probability that the current portfolio would achieve the 7% discount rate over a 10-year horizon and reported a…